Ram Tops J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

Owners of new Ram trucks find fewer quality problems with their vehicles than owners of any other brand of car, according to J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study. Ram’s parent company, Stellantis, also had brands place second (Dodge) and ninth (Jeep).

Quality Dramatically Improved

The high scores represent a remarkable turnaround for the brands. Ram ranked 21st in the study just two years ago, while Jeep had placed 18th and Dodge eighth.

Dave Sargent, vice president of automotive quality at J.D. Power, credited “a lot of hard work on the part of the Stellantis team throughout the organization to improve their quality.” He added, “Pickup trucks are not easy to build. The Ram is loaded with content and lots of variations. They have a pretty tough life with demanding customers. To be No. 1, when all you do is build pickups, is really pretty impressive.”

Oddly, Stellantis’ Chrysler brand placed dead last in the rankings.

Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company also put three brands into the top 10, with its Kia (sixth), Genesis (seventh), and Hyundai (eighth) brands all making the list.

Infotainment Systems Cause Most Complaints

The study asks new car owners to report problems with their vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership. The industry average this year was 162 problems reported – four fewer than in 2020. Twenty of 32 brands studied improved.

Infotainment systems resulted in more complaints than any other feature. Owners were more likely to struggle with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity than any other issue, particularly when connecting their phones to their new car wirelessly, the study found.

But new car owners tend not to blame the phone when the two won’t connect.

“Automakers generally are the ones facing the wrath of owners, but this is definitely a shared problem,” said Sargent. “Owners don’t care who’s at fault — they just want their phone and their vehicle to talk to each other.”

Tesla was not ranked because it is the only automaker that does not provide J.D. Power with data from every state, making it impossible to rank it fairly against its competition. Based on the data Tesla did provide, it would have placed 30th of 32 if it were ranked.

The Rankings:

Brand                                Problems Per 100 Vehicles

*Tesla not ranked because of incomplete data